Speakers

Theresa Stewart
Designed to Traumatize
In the Fall of 2016, Facebook Messenger introduced a new phone integration feature. This feature allowed Facebook access to your call logs and text messages to allow them to surface up people you might want to connect with on Messenger–both a blessing and a curse. This gift of integration triggered a PTSD episode when it suggested my rapist as a person I might want to message. As this kind of integration and recommendation becomes common, in addition to the ever increasing reality of data breeches, what is our responsibility as designers and technologist to prepare people for what we might uncover?

Tanya DePass
Google Exists, Stop Asking Us To Find POC, Queer, Disabled, and Other Folks For You
A short talk on why asking marginalized people to do the work of finding others for you is BS. Let's discuss why Google and other networks exist to find marginalized folks to do work in your organization.

Stephanie Slattery
Thanks But No Thanks: My Life with Disordered Eating in Tech
It's your first day at your new job, and your new boss and the CEO are taking you out for lunch. You want to make a good impression, and to do that you need to eat food around people. You, though, have an eating disorder. You can't just not go and you don't want anyone to learn about your disordered eating. What do you do?

In this talk, I'll discuss my experiences as a person with disordered eating in an industry that seems to revolve around food. I'll explain the problems people with eating disorders face with lunch and learns, drinks after work, and interview lunches and provide actionable ways for everyone to make space to help us

Mark Thompson
Building An App In 30 Days...And Launching
Over 30 days I challenged myself to start a company, build an app with alpha technology, and launch that app. I decided to live tweet my entire experience. This is the story of the pains and joys of actually following through on a dream in technology.

Kim Crayton
The Elephant In The Room: Why aren’t all women making gains in tech?

Byron Woodfork
Mid-Career Survival Tips for POC
Figuring out what it is you want to do or what sort of company you want to work for in the middle of your career is a tough task. Juggling that with the obstacles that we face as people of color in tech can make things seem pretty overwhelming. This talk is directed to aid those in the middle of their careers figure out a path forward through aligning their values with their company, finding mentorship and getting paid what they're worth.